Identification marking for automobiles



F. WENZ'EL. IDENTIFICATION MARKING FOR AUTOMOBILES. APPLICATION FILEDAPH. Ia. 1922.

Patented Dec. 12, 1922.

l l I l l INDEX lMOTOR ISEO ISZI |922 i323 N0. MAKE H.P N REQNII NO NON0 I FHAIWLIN 5I V22469 605374 52 FORD 22 33857 3I6I59 A53 NATIONAL 29I8I35 6|2785 54 ovERLAND I8 27758 665932 55 PACKARD 43 I32I26 654987 56OVERLAND' I8 42627 643984 57 oLosMoILE 26 |7493 6I3583 58 FORD 22 MIIOOI643729 5s cADILLAc 32 644I3 624749 6O OLDSMOBILE I9 H38 6IO487 6lGADILLAG 32 64413 65I985 62 cADILLAc :5I M3253 634788 63 OVERLAND 27847946642680 64 CADILLAC 32 :w63 629388 65 OVERLAND 30 6|I833 673450 66DODGE 24 275cm 623587 67 aADILLAc 31 |2290 628763 6B FORD 22|Io25067lo99 69 BUIOK 25 I88492 625755 7o CADILLAC 3| s5N535 653677 7|oHANDLl-:R 29 25945 6421I7 72 CADILLAC 3| ssJszaIIwa 73 BUICK 27.357.398 6|9s85 74 BUICK 25 26755I 6Io4Io 75 NATIONAL 40 533334 67I9I8ifm/JA IULM/LOI Patented llllee. l2, lQZlE..

auf :il den FRANK WENIZEL, 0F ALBANY, NEW YORK.

Application filed April 18T, 1922. Serial No. 554,927.

fo all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, 'Fininir lnNznL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Albany, in the county of Albanyand State of N ew York, haveinvented` certain new and useful lmprovements in identification Markingsfor by declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specihcation.

This invention relates to a system of marking automobiles so as todestroy the market for stolen automobiles and has for its principalobject the provision of a system that may be carried out without unduecomplications and which will prevent the purchaser of a stolen car fromobtaining a license plate from the Statey authorities provided that thetheft of the car has been duly reported.

A further and important obj ect of the invention resides in theprovision of the markers per se and in combination with the steeringwheel of the automobile.l

The number of cars stolen annually is indeed appallingJ and while morethan half the cars stolen are finally returned to their owners the valueof cars stolen `and never recovered has reached enormous figuresparticularly in the metropolitan cities and in the more denselypopulated sections of States having numbers of relatively large citiesseparated by only a few hours travel.

lf it were possible to devise some way of preventing the disposal of astolen car the evil would soon cease, but up to the present time thishas been found practically impossible and the present invention relatesto the next most logical step, that is, the elimination of the marketfor stolen automobiles by rendering it impossible for the purchaser of astolen car to get a clear title to it and hisinability to obtain alicense plate for the following year.

Figure lis a plan view of afportion of a steering Wheel embodying thedevice of the present invention.

Fig. 42 is a vertical section of Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Fig. 4 is a sample page from the records of the State authorities.

The device per se is relatively simple,

on line 2-2 Automobiles; and l do here-` consisting in a plurality ofmarkers a, l), and c representing together the key number of theautomobile as registered by the State authorities, and similar markersal,` e, f, and g Vrepresenting together the motor number. lf desired themotor number can always be limited to four digits by utilizing only thelast four figures of the mctornumber omitting letters should they 4formpart of the makerls motor number.`

The `key ,number is separated from the motor number by a space twice asgreat or more as the` distance between adjacent markers such as a and b,and it is the intention that the seven bands shall be so located on thesteering wheel so that when the car is moving directly forward all sevenwill be visible to a trallic ollicer7 that is, the bands are centeredabout the top of the `steering wheel when going straight ahead.

yThe markers are similar and each includes a small strip of copper itapproximately live-thousandths of an inch thick and any desired width asfor example oneinch or less. On this strip of copper 7L is a numeral lapositioned.` within the oval opening Vm in the steel band n whichencircles the steering wheel p. "A small sheet ofglass r approximately-llg of an inch thick is placed between the steel band n and the copperstrip 71, to protect the latter. from in- `jury." The glass r `(whichmay be Celluloid or any otherv transparent I'naterial)` is made thin inorder that any attempt to change the number would result in thedestruction of the extremely thin stripof copper.

"lhesystemof the present invention is as follows: On purchase of a newcar the owner presents the'bill of sale to' the local State authorityand is given alicense tag and at the same time the State authorityenters the owners name with make of car, motor number, etc., on theregular blank for forwarding to the State capital, and the' local Stateauthority or hisrepresentative then aiixes to the steering wheel 29bands such as a, '2)

and c representing the 1key number of the State records and also afinesthe bands (Z, c, f, and gwhich correspond tothe number of the motor inthe vehicle. rlhese bands are permanently secured to the steeringwheel-and are not intended to be removed at any time during the life ofthe car.

If during the year the car should be stolen the thief or the newpurchaser would not be able to secure the next years license tag for thereason that if he should give a fraudulentkey and motor'number thediscrepancy on the books would be noted at once, and should he give thecorrect number, reference to the books would disclose that this car hadbeen stolen during the year and the police would be promptly notified.

It isvalso contemplated to stamp the index or key number on the steeringwheelv into different parts of the motor in code and preferably bydividing the key number into portions vand: putting the iirst twonumerals on one part of the motor, the neXt two on another'part, and theneXt two on still another vpart ofthe motor indicating from theirposition on the motor their value.

Thus if the car were to bestolen and the parts removed and assembled inanother vehicle a subsequent inspection necessary before registrationwould vat once indicate that the parts had been removed from anothervehicle and by means of the code and the key its subsequent identicationmight be established.

There are at'the present time over eight hundred different makes ofmotor vehicles op erating in the United States, so that if the motornumber alonewas to servey as an index,

eight hundred different indices would be required, but under the methodoutlined above,

only one index is required. The sheet shown in F ig. 4t isa suggestedoutline showing how the records might be kept. By reference to thissheet it the co-,ordination'of the two factors,rindex number andmotornumber, the make of the car also enters, so that lit would beabsolutely impossible for a person not the owner to obtain aregistration on the car, since if the car were stolen and the thief gavethc same information as indicated on this sheet, it it would beimmediately discovered, because by this method, it is possible toindicate on the record by a simple symbol thetheft of any particularmotor vehicle. It is also possible by this method to obtain a completehistory of any car for any number of years.

In thefirst columns of the chart shown in Fig. 4 is written the numberassigned by the registration bureau, in the second column t iswrittenthe name of the manufacturer of the vehicle, in theneXt columnav appearsthe v horsepower of the car this being convenient in many States wherethe cost of the license varies with the power ofthe car.` In the fourthcolumn o appears the number assigned by the manufacturer to the engineor will be seen that in addition tol motor, and in the next columns to,ai, y, a, etc.7 appear the license numbers assigned by the State motorvehicle bureau for the particular years indicated in the headings ofthose columns.

WV-hat I claim is:

l.- A. method for preventing theft of automobilesconsisting in applyingto the steering wheel of an automobile a plurality of 3. .incombination, a steering wheel, a plurality of separated bands `eachhaving as'- signed toit a value, and a secondplurality of spaced bandsalso having relative values.

4. ln combination, a steering wheel of an automobile, and a plurality ofmarkersy each bearing a reference character.

5. In combination, a steering. wheel of an automobile, and a pluralityof markers thereon, each marker consisting ofl astrip partiallysurrounding the wheel rim and bearing an insignia, and a non-removableprotective covering having an opening therein through which saidinsignia is visible.

6. ln combination, a steering wheel of an automobile, and a plurality ofmarkers thereon, each marker consisting of anextremely frail strip ofmaterial bearing an insignia and partially surrounding the wheel rim, atransparent protective covering therefor, and a closed band ofrelativelyv strong material surrounding said protection and steeringwheel rim and having vanl opening in same for viewing said strip throughsaid covering.

7. A band adapted to be permanently secured to an automobile steeringwheel, said band including a strip of material directly and permanentlysecured to thev steering Wheel, an easily broken transparent protectivecovering therefor, and a closed me.- tallic band of relatively strongVmaterial surrounding said protective covering and having an openingtherein for viewing the strip throughsaid protective covering, saidstripbeing ofsuch extreme fragility as to be de stroyed by an attempt toremove same, or by the breaking of the transparent covering. FRANKWENZEL.

